Graphic from Under the Volcano
Graphic from Under the Volcano |
The year is coming to an end. But this year is unlike any other year in a long time. It is not only the end of a year, it is the end of a decade, the end of a century and the end of a millennium. (We would like to acknowledge the debate over when the millennium ends and simply indicate that we are going with the flow.) Because of the uniqueness of this time, we would like to take a historical look back to grasp the potential of what lays ahead.
A million years ago, the human species began the long walk into its future.
One thousand years ago, people lived a hard life in poverty and servitude to royalty. Life expectancy was short and infant morality was high. But improvements and advances in agricultural technologies-use of heavy plow, the three-field system of crop rotation, the use of mills-caused towns and trade to grow. With this growth came the increased interconnection of economies and the politics that administer them. Economic relationships advanced through feudalism and the oppression of peasants, to capitalism, and the struggles of the working class, and on to imperialism and the subjugation of the people of the world. Throughout, warfare has been, at times, both a policy towards and an inevitable outcome of these relationships.
Also throughout this period, the people continually struggled to improve their lives and lift the yoke of oppression holding them back. First we were the peasants rising up against royalty and the "way of god." Breaking free from the ways of feudalism, tradesmen and artisans began to change the relationship to the means of production and paved the way for capitalism and the working class. Along the way, political and social relationships were shaped by such things as "The Magna Carta" (Great Chapter) and the "Jacquerie" uprising, the Paris Commune and socialist revolution. Over the last millennium, we have made exponential-like advancements as a species to where our actions have a global impact on all other species of life on the planet.
History also shows us that nothing lasts forever and that which was once progressive eventually becomes reactive. So too, capitalism, which at one time was a necessary step forward in our lifting the yoke of feudalism off of our shoulders, has now turned into imperialism which hangs over our future like a malevolent pair of hands -- holding us back and suffocating us at the same time. How did this happen? Simply put, capital seeks capital, no matter what the cost.
A century ago, capitalism had spread well beyond the borders of its nation countries and was competing around the world. In the early decades of this century, the U.S. readily sent its military into Central and South American countries to overthrow governments and install puppets or to put down popular uprisings. Soon, the political solutions to the economic competition by capital were unable to resolve the contradictions and a military re-division needed to take place. Called "the war to end all wars," it cost the people the lives of millions -- all to better enable the capitalists the ability to continue to exploit us. (As a side-note, World War I wasn't labeled such until after WWII -- Notice the Olympic style numbering, looks like they plan on making them regular events.)
But the first decades of the century also saw the working class take state power for the first time, furthering the understanding gained since the Paris Commune in 1871. The workers of the Soviet Union threw off the mantel of capitalism and wore the cloak of socialism for over three decades. After W.W.II, the people of China stood up and threw off their shackles and for over two decades, the liberation struggles in the world had a socialist country leading the way. The impact of a socialist China even helped those of us who live within the belly of the beast to wake up. The 60s in the U.S. brought about a radical change as the events from around the world came home to help educate an entire generation. The Vietnam War and opposition to that war enabled veterans to play an important part in that education. Now, the U.S. imperialists were facing opposition both around the world AND at home. The world suddenly got a lot smaller and the people of the world were beginning to stand together and look at their struggles in a larger context. The three decades since that war have seen the world shrink even smaller as we come closer and closer together.
This decade opened to the battle over mandatory patriotism and the preservation of a piece of cloth. In open defiance of the new law, veterans led thousands in burning symbols of oppression -- not only the flag of the U.S. but of corporate America as well. We held little illusions about the courts and the "legal" battle waged there, so we took it to the streets and helped beat back this fascist attack on the rights and dignity of the people of this country. Then, Bush's "thousand points of light" became a harsh and ugly reality in skies over the Gulf as the U.S. led a band of UN-sanctioned thugs in the slaughter of Iraq. The brutality of this war will be forever etched in our minds by the vision of the bodies of those massacred on the road to Basra and did not go down without our opposition. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets united in their opposition to a war. We didn't stop the war but we learned that there is an anti-war / anti-intervention movement alive and growing in this country.
However, the U.S. has continued to impose sanctions against Iraq that are responsible for the deaths, each month of thousands -- mostly infants and children -- from preventable diseases and malnutrition. These deaths are an "acceptable" price our so-called leaders are willing to "pay" to achieve U.S. goals. Like they even know what the price is.
Also during this decade, the sudden and unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union left not only the U.S. as the world's only superpower but also power vacuums in many regions and countries. Unfettered, the U.S. re-defined and refined its use of organizations like the UN and NATO to protect and expand its "interests." Struggles broke out as puppet regimes were also suddenly unfettered. Power plays were made and territories were divided and redivided. As always in these conflicts, the people come out on the bottom. Within the last year, the deaths in the Balkans -- due to U.S. interests -- continues to show us the real meaning behind U.S. "humanitarianism."
In looking over the last decade, the last century and the last millennium, a couple of thoughts stand out. One is that war seems to be inevitable, a part of human nature. But a longer and closer look at history says that this ain't so! For the greater part of our existence and growth, we lived without war. War entered the picture when there was something to fight about -- surplus. And as the abilities to create surplus -- called profits by the capitalists -- advanced, so did the ability to wage war. The future of war is inextricably entwined with the future of profit and will share its demise. The second thought is that the exponential rate by which social change has accelerated over these period raises, considerably, the level of what is possible in the future. Looking over the last century, let alone the last millennium, it is easy to imagine how much change can take place in the next thousand -- no, the next ten years! Dare to imagine.